Home Is Where The Pack Is
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Read the right conclusion of the Jungle Book in which Mowgli awakens from the girl's spell.  Slash.


Title: "Home Is Where The Pack Is"  
>Author: Pirate Turner<br>Rating: PG  
>Summary: Read the right conclusion of the Jungle Book in which Mowgli awakens from the girl's spell.<br>Warnings: Slash, Brief Het, Established Pairing, AU  
>Word Count: 1,925<br>Date Written: 6 June, 2011  
>Challenge: DiteyBlessings LJ comm's monthly challenge<br>Disclaimer: These versions of Baloo, Bagheera, Mowgli, all other characters mentioned within, and The Jungle Book are & TM Disney and any other rightful owners, none of whom are the author. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He seemed entranced until the girl leaned close and, with a giggle, pressed her lips to his. Their mouths touched so softly that it tickled, and yet something crawled along Mowgli's flesh, warning him that this wasn't right. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be, and his stomach flopped inside of his body. He shoved her away, and she looked at him in confusion even as he clutched one hand to his stomach and the other to his mouth.

She had fallen when he had pushed her, but she returned easily to her feet and continued to look at him through wide eyes. "You . . . did not like?" she questioned, and he stared at her, his eyes becoming again the gaze of the wild animal that had first lured her into trying to save him from the jungle.

Before she had touched him so privately, he had had a meager understanding of what she was trying to say though he did not know her language. Now her words were just sounds that added to his confusion and growing fear. He grunted in response and then backed hurriedly away when she tried to come near again. His hands pushed out in front of him as though to ward her off.

The girl giggled, and Mowgli's skin crawled more. This was wrong, all wrong! This was the world of man! How had he gotten here? He blinked and rubbed his eyes as he tried to remember, and when he lowered his hands, she was standing right in front of him. He jumped backwards, hissing like he'd heard his father, Bagheera, do when angered.

The girl's mouth fell open as the boy who had drawn her affection hissed at her like a wild cat. She stepped back and watched him with wide eyes as panic and fear flashed across his handsome face. Her mother had told her to listen to her heart and it would lead her to the right boy. She had thought this stranger was the right one for she had been drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but now, just like the proverbial moth, she began to fear being burned.

Their wide, round eyes glanced up fearfully as flames danced in the outskirts of their vision. Men were passing by, and they carried torches of fire, guns, and knives. Mowgli darted behind the nearest bush and watched them through its protective leaves. Their words made little sense to him, but he heard the anger and fury in their loud, booming voices. He shivered inside, a cold sickliness growing within him, as he began to understand a few of their words.

They had seen animals in the forest whom they intended to kill. Were his friends amongst them? Their focus seemed to be on a tiger, who could only be Shere Khan, but there were others of whom they spoke. His friends were in danger! These horrible humans were going after his family, his pack!

A howl started low in his throat, and he clamped both hands over his mouth to silence it. His wide eyes swept the area. The men did not appear to have heard him. The girl had, and she stood out in the open, watching him in shock with open mouth and wide eyes. He had thought they could be friends and perhaps have a little fun as he and his Poppa Baloo always did, but he had been wrong. She was of the human world, and the humans were no friends of his.

He turned and raced back to his home, the forest, his lungs burning with red-hot fear and his heart thundering in his ears. He heard a gun go off somewhere behind him, and he doubled his speed. He tripped over a twig, fell to his hands and knees, and ran even faster on all fours. He had to get away! He had to get back to where he belonged and warn his family of what was coming! He had to reach his fathers, his pack!

Those thoughts barreled in Mowgli's head, urging him onward, and he did not stop for anything as he fled the world of man and returned to where he belonged. The further he went into the jungle, the more at home he felt, but still he was at unease. He had to find Baloo and Bagheera! He had to get back to his pack and warn them that the humans were coming! He had to get all the way home!

Thorns scratched at his bare feet and ankles. Vines grasped his arms, and he pulled through them, snapping their green tusks without ever pausing. He charged onward, memories flashing through his mind and giving him the strength to keep going. He remembered every moment he'd ever shared with Baloo, Bagheera, and their other friends in the jungle. He remembered his home and knew again that this was where he belonged, not the world of man, for although man may look like him, he was not like man. He was an animal. He belonged to this world and to his pack, and he would never leave it again!

His nose led him homeward, and he did not stop running until he barreled straight into Baloo. "Easy there, man cub," the bear spoke, trying to calm his own racing emotions. He had smelled Mowgli and his fear from miles away and had come running forward to meet his cub. His arms went around Mowgli, and he picked him up and held him tightly against his massive chest.

Mowgli pressed his own, much smaller arms around his bear father and held tightly to him as, at last, his tears began. They quickly soaked Baloo's fur even as the concerned bear patted his back with a paw far gentler than any hand of man would ever be. "Easy, Little Breeches," Baloo murmured reassuringly. "It's okay. You're home now. You don't ever have to be afraid again. You're back, and it's just one big party from here on out!"

"You . . . You don't . . . understand, Poppa Bear!" Mowgli sobbed out between strangled gasps and more tears smothering Baloo's thick, dark fur. "Man . . . Man is coming! . . . He's coming to . . . hurt us, . . . to hunt us, . . . to kill us!"

Bagheera dropped down from the trees above their heads and padded on silent, ebony paws over to them. "Ah, Mowgli," he purred in his deep voice as he sat down beside the man cub and wrapped his long, black tail around his skinny legs.

"Oh, Bagheera!" Mowgli sobbed, turning from Baloo to the big cat who had always seemed like a second father to him. "Tell him! Tell him he's in danger!"

Bagheera rubbed his head against Mowgli's outstretched hand in a rare sign of affection. "You are right, of course," he rumbled to him. "We are in danger every day from man, but we mustn't let it stop us from living our lives."

"We'll take 'em!" Baloo declared, swinging a paw safely above Mowgli's head. "We have every time before, and we'll take 'em again when they come back!"

Mowgli peered uncertainly at him through the tears that clouded his deep, brown eyes. "But, Poppa Bear, they have guns and knives and fire!"

"We'll still take them, Little Breeches," Baloo vowed, sitting down and pulling the kid back into his arms. "You'll see. There ain't nothing to be afraid of 'cause ol' Baloo and Baggy Pants here - " He ignored Bagheera's indignant sniff. " - can take anything the world of man can dish out at us!"

Mowgli let Baloo comfort him, although he was still afraid. Baloo reached out an arm and grasped Bagheera's. Bagheera's shot him a thundering look of surprise, but the bear just shrugged it off as he pulled him into the hug. "Our pack's back together, Baggy, and together, there ain't anything we can't do!"

Baloo and Bagheera gazed into each other's eyes, each knowing where the other stood on the situation for they'd argued about it all of Mowgli's young life. "He's a man," Bagheera mouthed to Baloo. "He should be with his people."

"He is with his people," Baloo shot back silently. "His family is right here." He pulled Bagheera more tightly against himself and their cub, and Bagheera's protests stopped as he felt Mowgli's frightened trembles.

Bagheera's tail snapped angrily through the air. Mankind had made his cub afraid! He rubbed his face against Mowgli's bare back as he purred deeply. "It's okay, Mowgli. They can't hurt you."

"I don't want them to hurt any of us!" Mowgli cried, turning and burying his face into Bagheera's fur.

Surprise registered on the panther's previously stoic face, and Baloo grinned down at him. "Told ya," he mouthed.

Hesitantly, Bagheera put a paw around Mowgli's tiny body, and Mowgli sobbed even more.

"I think it's time to party," Baloo said thoughtfully. "Can't think of a better reason to party than having our family back together. Let's go off to visit King Louie, and we'll come back when man's settled down again."

"Can we do that?" Mowgli asked, blinking up at his Poppa Bear through tears.

"Course we can!" Baloo exclaimed and grinned.

"What about the others?" Mowgli questioned in concern as he rubbed his swollen, red eyes.

"We'll pass the word," Baloo told him. "Anybody that swings with us can swing with Louie. I've got us all an open pass, and man won't be able to find us there."

Mowgli was quiet for a moment as he thought about Baloo's idea, and then he spoke up cautiously again. "Poppa Bear," he started to ask and then fell quiet again, uncertain as to rather he really wanted to ask the question that still bothered him.

"Yeah? What is it, Mowg?"

"Why . . . " Mowgli paused again and nervously chewed his bottom lip.

"Go ahead, Little Breeches," Baloo said, petting him comfortingly. "You can ask ol' Baggy and me anything."

"Why do I look like them?"

Baloo thought for a moment, and then he spoke. "Because," he said simply, "you were born to the wrong world."

"I was supposed to be a man, wasn't I?"

"Yeah." He nodded, and Bagheera watched the interaction between the two with intent curiosity, his green eyes growing wide at the truths Baloo finally admitted.

Mowgli shook his head fiercely and jutted his lips out. "Well, I'm not one of them, and I'm never going to be one of them! I'm staying right here forever!"

"And that's exactly what we want to hear," Baloo admitted, and as he hugged Mowgli and Bagheera tightly to him, Bagheera breathed a silent sigh of relief. His eyes gazed into Baloo's, and he purred joyously as his tail swished with his contentment. His beloved Baloo and their little Mowgli was right, he finally admitted. Mowgli had never truly been meant to be a man for he would not have been given to them if he had, and ever since the day Bagheera had gone to his mate and found him with cub, he'd been wanting, hoping, and yet never daring to believe that their cub would stay with them forever. Now, at last, he knew their pack was complete, their family whole, and nothing would ever part them again! He wrapped his tail around his family and returned their tight hug, feeling them squeeze him in return and in love, and he purred his own joy and love.

**The End**


End file.
